I need advice. This might be more of a GQ and if it is then mods please move but I’m starting out here because I’m looking for ideas also.
My husband and I are musicians. Our basement is finished and we want to start using it for rehearsals and practicing. Toward that end I want to set up my PA system and this is where the problem starts.
I have a Bose L1 system. When it’s completely set up it stands about 85" tall. The drop ceiling of my basement is 82", too low for the Bose. We are thinking about removing a ceiling tile and letting it stick up in the the space a couple of inches. We checked and it looks like there’s about 8 more inches beyond the ceiling tile.
Problem is, we don’t want a permanent hole in the ceiling and we can’t figure out how to remove the tile in a way that we can put it back. They seem to be fitted together in a tongue and groove style.
Alternately, we could buy a second small PA system for use in the basement and save the Bose for gigs. I’d rather not spend the money but that is an alternative.
Well, you could just use a hole saw or razor blade to do it, I don’t think it’s going to be a big deal provided there’s nothing above them (like a joist) that’s going to make you go “Crap, okay, move over three inches and cut another hole”. IOW, you might wind up with a few spare holes. The only problem I see with this is that you’ll have to make the holes somewhat large in order to bring the equipment in at and angle and the straighten it out into the hole (it will have to be bigger then the post itself) and also after you bring it in and out enough times you’ll like end up doing enough damage to the surrounding bit of tile that you’ll wind up with tile sized holes anyway. I’m thinking you’re best bet is going to be to remove the entire tile that way you can maneuver the equipment into place without banging into the (raw) edges and doing more damage each time.
ETA, I have no idea what the equipment is, but do you need it to be that tall? Can you use the smaller ones on a gig? Can you buy the taller one and take hack saw/Sawzall to it so it’s as tall as possible for your home without damaging the ceiling (and get a cap for it so it looks nice)?
I’d be looking for ways to shorten the base unit up. I can’t tell from the picture what might work. Maybe 4" could be removed from the vertical stand at the bottom. You might need some added brackets.
you can cut tongue and grooves in situations of retrofit and repair. you need some other means of support which is easier to do on floors and walls. you could glue supports sticks/bars/rails on the backs of tiles (which have tongue and grooves cut) which you could fit into place like puzzle pieces when you want to replace the ceiling.
could you use the cylindrical radiator not vertical? could you make or buy a patch cord to connect the cylindrical radiator halves electrically without them being physically connected and use them side by side?
Good point about the angle thing. Yup, what we’re trying to avoid is holes in the ceiling. Ideally we’d have a ceiling tile or something that we could lift out when we needed the space and then put back to cover the hole but it doesn’t look like we can do that with these tiles.
The Bose doesn’t set up any other way (click the link in my OP if you want to see it set up) which is why the alternative is a second PA system that’s smaller. We might end up going that way. It would just be easier.
Still, I was hoping, since I’m dealing with the smartest people in the world here on the SDMB, that someone might have a creative solution.
But maybe the obvious answer is the right one. Buy a small PA for rehearsals that fits in the basement.
It seems to me if you don’t want holes in your ceiling, two systems or cutting this one with a hacksaw, your other option is to keep this one laying down on it’s side or tipped against the wall when you have it in the basement.
Does it need to stand vertical? Couldn’t you make a rig fairly easily that would securely hold it several feet off the ground but horizontally? It wouldnt much effect the acoustics in a small room, and unless the manual specifically forbids it, shouldn’t effect the operation of the pa.
You could cut a round hole in a tile and cover it with something attractive and removable. There are nice stainless-looking vents. There are decorative covers for unused ceiling junction boxes.
You’d have to figure out a method to make the cover easily removable: velcro, magnets, tongue & groove. Something. And if the ceiling hole is in an odd spot, a compulsive might want to add a second decorative cover to make things symmetrical.
There’s a user’s forum on the Bose web site I’ll check there and see if it’s possible to tilt it or lay it down.
It’s basically three pieces, the base, and two speaker towers. The bottom speaker tower fits into the base and that’s where the connection is made so I’m not sure if tilting it or setting it on its side would compromise the connection. Likewise the second tower fits into the first. I’m not aware that there are cables to connect the without stacking them. The connection between the two speaker towers isn’t any kind of standard input so I’m not sure what sort of patch cord would work.
Just a quick update. We did find a solution to the problem that didn’t involve cutting a hole in the ceiling and we didn’t have to tilt or lay down the PA.
We have a small closet in the corner of the basement and in that closet is the breaker panel. It’s also crammed with other junk. While some friends were visiting yesterday one of them pointed out that there probably isn’t a drop ceiling in the closet and maybe the PA would fit in there. It did. Perfectly. I can’t believe I stood in that room so many times pondering this issue and I never thought of the closet :smack:
We had to move all of the junk that was in there and we can’t leave the PA set up in there because it sticks out a bit and the door won’t close meaning that when the cat is in the basement he could then get behind the walls which would be a bad thing. But it’s easy enough to set up and we rehearse infrequently enough that I don’t mind setting it up every time.
Thanks to all who offered suggestions. I really do appreciate it.